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Cross-party group of Parliamentarians sign open letter urging PrEP increase in London

Read the letter to the Health Secretary from MPs and members of the House of Lords.

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Following last week’s announcement that commissioners in London have refused to double places on the PrEP trial, a number of MPs and peers have written to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock MP, calling on him to intervene and take urgent action.

Text of the letter

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Dear Secretary of State,

We are writing to you as MPs and peers who have championed the need for access to PrEP – as an essential tool to meet our national commitment to end new HIV transmissions.

We are disappointed and concerned about the news that London clinics will not be receiving double the number of places on the PrEP Trial.

We very much welcomed your commitment, made at the AIDS Impact conference, that you will double the number of places on the PrEP Impact Trial, especially since many constituencies across the country and 47% of Trial sites across London are already closed to men who have sex with men and turning away individuals who are at high risk of HIV.

However, staggeringly, commissioners in London have decided not to accept these extra places. This comes a year after London signed up to be an HIV Fast Track City and after Steve Brine confirmed in response to a recent Parliamentary Question that most Trial sites would be full to men who have sex with men by March, which has already begun.

With every delay, more and more people are being diagnosed with HIV, which could have been avoided had they had access to PrEP.

We continue to call on you to find a sustainable solution to make sure that PrEP is available to all who need it. In the meantime, we are calling on you to intervene and take urgent action to ensure that your commitment to providing an additional 13,000 PrEP trial places are put in the hands of those who need it, including in London, as a matter of urgency.